Hospital Doctor articles from January 2005

Hospital Doctor archives from January 2005

Cultural revolution.
January 13, 2005... The key message in Dame Janet Smith's fifth and final Shipman Inquiry report is that doctors are still protecting doctors. It is a criticism that is not levelled only at the GMC, but at the profession as a whole. Dame Janet says the old culture...

letters 1.(Letter to the Editor)
January 13, 2005... That's what GMC means Sir, I have always been in two minds about the GMC. Seeking clarity, I read the weekly doctors' magazine articles on the council. In Hospital Doctor, Sir Donald Irvine, past president of the GMC, is reported as...

Doctors forced to mop loos.(North Tyneside General Hospital)(Brief Article)
January 13, 2005... staff Doctors in a Northern hospital who were forced to mop their own toilets had to threaten to cancel theatre lists before they were given a replacement cleaner. When the anaesthetic dep-artment cleaner at North Tyneside General Hospital...

You are not powerless.(Editorial)
January 13, 2005... editorial comment The devastating images of the tsunami in south-east Asia continue to haunt our thoughts and pervade our living rooms. When a natural disaster occurs on this magnitude, with such desperate consequences for human life, it...

SAS pay objectives 'unrealistic'.(Staff and associate specialist doctors)(Brief Article)
January 13, 2005... contract Staff and associate specialist (SAS) doctors will have to compete against each other if they want to regrade, the body negotiating their new contract on behalf of the Government says. NHS Employers says while personal regrading...

Pension plan 'would cause mass exodus'.
January 13, 2005... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Thousands of doctors will retire early if final salary pensions are scrapped, doctors leaders have warned. An NHS Employers consultation document, published this week, suggests basing pensions on the...

Hard-up hospitals leave posts empty.(Brief Article)
January 13, 2005... Workforce By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Financial problems are causing trusts across the country to keep vacant consultant posts deliberately unfilled, a new survey shows. A BMA survey of 925 consultants finds 44 per cent have...

Special booze units set to relieve A&E.(accident and emergency)(Brief Article)
January 27, 2005... Services Field hospitals and mobile units set up to deal with binge drinkers could help relieve pressure on overworked A&E services, the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine (BAEM) has said. Last week, West Hull Primary...

On-call rooms cull.(working time regulations)(Brief Article)
January 27, 2005... Working time directive On-call rooms are still being closed across the country, despite uncertainty over whether full-shift working will continue. Trusts are blaming the Working Time Directive's Jaeger and Simap cases, which concluded that...

'Prepare PDPs ahead of job plan reviews'.(personal development plans)
January 27, 2005... Job planning By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk Consultants should ensure they have been appraised and have personal development plans (PDPs) in place in advance of their job plan reviews, doctors' leaders are advising. Job plan...

Fears over clinical records.(Brief Article)
January 27, 2005... Medico-legal Doctors could face fines or time in prison for failing to hand over clinical records to NHS 'fraud-busters' under new Department of Health proposals, medico-legal advisers have warned. Medical defence organisations have...

Surgery needs an end to cuts.(regulations for working hours and it's influence on training of doctors)(Brief Article)
January 27, 2005... editorial comment Surgical training is under threat. This week, we reveal that the introduction of both the Working Time Directive and independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) are undermining the training of juniors. Figures show that...

letters.(Letter to the Editor)
January 27, 2005... Dame Janet's awful legacy Sir, Dame Janet Smith calls for a cultural revolution among doctors following the Shipman Inquiry (13 January, page 22), with doctors and patients positively encouraged to report any suspicions of poor...

Fears mount for juniors' training.(elective operations and it's impact on trainee doctors)
January 27, 2005... By Melanie Newman melanie.newman@rbi.co.uk New research has heightened fears that limits on junior doctors' hours, combined with large-scale transfer of elective operations to the independent sector, will have a devastating impact on training....

Shaking the foundations.(National Health Service )
January 27, 2005... Removal of the head of the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, amid forecasts of a deficit in excess of [pounds sterling]11m, hit the headlines last month, but was he simply the fall guy for conflicting policies which threaten to...